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Relate kinetic energy and potential energy with a pendulium

Answers

The motion of a pendulum is a classic example of mechanical energy conservation. A pendulum consists of a mass (known as a bob)
attached by a string to a pivot point. As the pendulum moves it sweeps
out a circular arc, moving back and forth in a periodic fashion.
Neglecting air resistance (which would indeed be small for an
aerodynamically shaped bob), there are only two forces acting upon the
pendulum bob. One force is gravity. The force of gravity acts in a
downward direction and does work upon the pendulum bob. However, gravity
is an internal force (or conservative force) and thus does not serve to
change the total amount of mechanical energy of the bob. The other
force acting upon the bob is the force of tension. Tension is an
external force and if it did do work upon the pendulum bob it would
indeed serve to change the total mechanical energy of the bob. However,
the force of tension does not do work since it always acts in a
direction perpendicular to the motion of the bob. At all points in the
trajectory of the pendulum bob, the angle between the force of tension
and its direction of motion is 90 degrees. Thus, the force of tension
does not do work upon the bob.

Since there are no external forces doing work, the total mechanical
energy of the pendulum bob is conserved. The conservation of mechanical
energy is demonstrated in the animation below. Observe the KE and PE
bars of the bar chart; their sum is a constant value.